Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I had a funny thing happen to me today. As a result of a couple changes in my social life, I have had a lot of free time on my hands. I have even more since my roommate Cody is in NYC visiting our siblings and common niece. Now that finals are over I am having trouble filling the gaps in my schedule-- and now I can't just go tracting or street contacting like I could in St. Petersburg. So I decided to go hop in the car and see where my little civic would take me. Eventually I ended up at Ernie's Deli over by Cafe Rio. I walked in and ordered my usual "Slider" (The slider is a delectable little number with chicken, marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.) There was about 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter of the Boston Celtics game against the Detroit Pistons on the tv. Soon I was the only person there after a couple on a date left me sitting at my table watching the big screen. As I was finishing my sandwich another couple walked in: a grungy, Portland-looking guy in a beanie with his toothpick-skinny Asian girlfriend. I didn't really pay much attention to them at first, because Ray Allen had just hit a huge 3 pointer to bring the Celtics closer to the Pistons. Then I noticed it. It was subtle at first, a pleasant odor. Something or someone smelled great! Then my sniffer located the source: that granola guy had some excellent cologne on.

Now let me say at this point in the story that I am not much of a cologne guy. I would wear it when I was out on a date, and mostly because Sara Rae was a big fan of it. And I do like to please the ladies ;)

Anyway, I was really smitten with this guy's smell, so when Chow Li got up to go get her sandwich I seized the opportunity and walked over to his table. I then rather sheepishly asked him if he was wearing cologne, and if he was, where did he get it- that I might procure a little bottle myself. He shook his head and told me that he was in fact not wearing cologne, but that he was wearing deodorant and maybe that's what I smelled. I was obviously disappointed by this answer. About this time Chow Li returned, sandwich in hand, and asked what we were talking about. He relayed my question about the great smell to her. She got really excited and explained that I was smelling her perfume. At this point something clicked in my brain and I realized that I had indeed been smelling perfume and not cologne. The odd thing is that I think a man or woman could sport this fragrance and it would be ok. Nonetheless I was extremely embarrassed. So I walked back to my table just in time to see Chauncey Billups hit a free throw with 0.1 seconds left on the clock to seal the win for the Pistons. After that I walked out of there and drove 100 yards to Movies 8 where I watched Rush Hour 3. That movie has tons of Asians.